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Saturday, August 29, 2009
Rabbicorn closing september first on IBM
The Rabbicorn story closes at IBM 3 on September 1st and I have decided to move it to Immersiva. It was 10 000 prims and I am hoping to pare it down to around 8 000, but it will still force me to delete much of what is on Immersiva right now. If you wish to see the Rabbicorn before I remove it go now because I have a very itchy delete finger atm. Marlen Slazar made a wonderful machinima of Immersiva which captured some of the things which are about to go. Thank you Marlen its really quite beautiful. Its all very sad to me to delete these things and it makes me wonder why open sim allows for 45 000 prims on a sim where second life gives me only 15 000. It seems like open sim might be a better fit for my terrible primmy nature.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tezcatlipoca Bisani
Tez is a really great guy and when I saw his wonderful write up on NPIRL I just felt the need to repost this machinima I made of him as the lead Handsome boy model. The best part of this machinima is that none of them knew what I planned to do with the footage. Such a trusting bunch and so good natured. I am less so.
I promise this is the last time I post this machinima Tez. Ah who am I kidding... I will probably post it again sometime.
The other handsome boy models are Colin Fizgig, Cube Republic and Glyph Graves
Monday, August 24, 2009
Some musings on being irritated
Below to the left is Keystones work and down to the right is a real world site work done by Richard Serra sometime in the 1980's. Richards work is entitled "Tilted arc" and was installed at Foley square in New York. It spans 120 feet (36.5 metres) was 12 feet high (3.6 metres) and weighed 72 tons.
Richard Serras work arguably failed.
What made it fail? It was designed specifically for the square and played off of the original design. This was not a problem. It conceptually dealt with the "Iron curtain" of the time ... not a problem. The problem was that it spanned a well travelled park effectively blocking morning commuters from getting to work. Everyone who had taken this short cut to work suddenly found a massive metal barrier forcing them to find a detour. After a public outcry the piece was removed. The artist had said he purposely wanted to make people have this type of reaction, and yet... his work is gone. I personally would say it failed due to its design and its placement in "reality".
When I looked at Keystones design I was able to fly over and around it. There was no irritation factor and I was easily able to navigate away to view other works. But it made me think about the second life equivalents to this. What are the things which can potentially cause irritation in the viewer with the side effect of them not properly experiencing what you had intended. What is acceptable and what is too much?
I recall going to an art exhibit last year where the original artist had set up his show and had allowed another "performance" artist to do their brand of art. It involved a screen full of chat spam .. some rotating prims with images of dog shit on them and some loud screaming. It was meant to be avant guarde but to me it was just annoying and I left within a minute. As a result I don't remember much about it .. the name of either artist or even what it was meant to be. Some artists like to defend their work by shouting loudly that its really the viewers who are too stupid and lazy to appreciate the deep message they are imparting. People are just not ready for it. Then it becomes one of those things where if you say you don't like it you feel guilty and somewhat a neanderthal.
So what I would like is for you the readers to leave a comment about things which you find annoying in builds. I think it could be very useful to other builders to know about them.
Here are some of the ones that bug me.
-giant towers that are difficult to climb in no fly areas.
-artists who hide things inside their builds so that nobody can find them.
oh wait... that's me.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Carousel of Dreams and Sorrows - The fallen Jethopper
I am in the process of remaking Immersiva but its taking me longer than seven days. Its an unpopular choice but here is an explanation of sorts. When I paint a picture I would sometimes find myself afraid to accidentally screw it up. But at the same time I would feel that there was something missing, but not be exactly sure what the problem was. Perhaps I had a new idea I wanted to try but to do so might mess everything up. For example, if i had created a scene over a month with figures around a table, and suppose i wanted to move one figure over a tiny bit or change where he was looking etc then its a huge undertaking and you can quite possibly mess up the entire painting. This is mostly because if you erase something and then realize it was a mistake, then try to recreate the original, its rarely as good as the first attempt. Because the first time you are loose and open and when you recreate you are tighter and it shows. It often loses its spontaneity. So what happens is you have an almost perfect painting which you are afraid of ruining yet you are not 100% happy because you still wonder what might have happened if you tried your other idea. What this all does it keep you from trying new things out of fear of buggering up your work. It can keep you from advancing. I took what my gallery found to be a heartbreaking approach. It actually made one of the gallery owners cry when she was told of it. What I began to do was take my favorite paintings and destroy them. Well not destroy all of them. I buried some in the back yard of an old house i lived in, some were left in alleyways, one is buried under a gas station another is sealed in plastic and on the bottom of a lake. Anyway the point is that if I found myself becoming too attached to one (because you can fall in love with your paintings) then I would force myself to do this. Now whenever I do anything, painting or building in SL, I always advance. I can take something i love and not be afraid to try something which might destroy it, because well.. its better than being on the bottom of a lake. I have not had to do this for a while now and I still fall in love with things i make, I just am now able to suddenly try something new to them without fear. There have been many times when that new idea was an improvement and had i been afraid to take the risk then I would not have learned. Changing Immersiva is a bit like this. I don't feel there is anything wrong with it but I want to try new things. Anyway I realize the burying of my paintings sounds insane so lets move on to the Jethopper.
On the Carousel of Dreams and Sorrows is an empty spot between the Octobot and Seahorse. The Large Jethopper used to sit there. The tiny jethoppers would see him up there each day. They saw him almost as a god. Distant and mysterious. For to them he was unattainable. One day the wind came and blew the Jethopper from the carousel down onto the ground. When the tiny jethoppers came then next day they found him partially in the water. They saw he was rusty and a machine like they were. All the robots of Immersiva were left alone when the theme park was abandoned by man. They all adapt in different ways, some look for companionship and some merely exist. The tiny jethoppers had found hope and meaning on top of a carousel.
A Jethopper
on the ground
broke the silence
with a sound
A chirping question
a mournful call
at the sight of
the Icons fall
Once a remote
brought into focus
Two worlds built
and together fell
from the height of
a Carousel
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
I saw a bear!
This is where I spent most of my time writing. This is a foggy morning.
Above is a place I tried writing at called cup and saucer. The little angular bit on the hill is where i sat and below is what it looks like up close. That triangular rock is completely natural and quite comfortable to sit on. I am afraid of heights so I was not able to look over the side, in fact i had to sit down most of the time I was up there. I have this weird reaction where even if someone else walks to the edge it makes me sit down. Anyway, I tortured myself for a while trying to work up there, mostly because I liked the idea of writing in this spot more than I actually enjoyed it.
I also found an old abandoned farm house on Manitoulin Island and so it had to be explored. I love exploring abandoned things that have been sitting around for years, I am not so sure I would have went inside this barn had I seen the bear first, but as it turns out nothing lived inside it.
I hear the Brooklyn is Watching show went well and if you saw my work and want to vote for me then go here and do so! Seems DanCoyote Antonelli is way in the lead for this but feel free to vote for me if you liked it.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Brooklyn is Watching final 5 show
I will be away for a week or so on a writing retreat in a cottage on a lake. This is due to an evil slave driver named Georg Jannick who is having me write a chapter on Immersion for a book. Hiding on a remote lake is the only way I will get this done. I think he wanted the rough draft last week. Anyway, while I am gone there will be an opening reception for a potentially exciting event. Below is the press release that Jay Newt has created, and within that release is a picture of us looking like a failed comic book superteam. My superpower is standing for long periods of time without going into "away" mode.
Brooklyn is Watching is a gallery which actively tries to promote SL art. They display work on monitors and each week have a podcast critique of work that has been placed there. Its an interesting event because as artists we place our work there to hear what we hope to be constructive intelligent criticism. But in many ways we listen to the panel to see if they are able to critique us. Are they prepared? have they done any homework? are they merely trying to be entertaining or do they seriously have an understanding of virtual art. Its a new dialogue and the critique is not coming from an old traditional method, but rather from a new perspective almost every week.
The above machinima is of my build for BIW. It is called Willow and tells the story of two robots who hide from salvagers. It is an another experiment in Immersiva, and hopefully those of you who go will find yourself captivated and drawn into this narrative environment. As with any competition there will always be differing views as to who should have been chosen. Everyone has their favorites and they get grumpy when they are not chosen. Personally I am very happy with the final five. DanCoyote Antonelli is one of the first successful artists in second life and is the father of Hyperformalism. Glyph Graves can create organisms and sculpture but also produces new and unique scripts. Selavy Oh is another Hyperformalist and one of my favorite artists in second life. She creates beautiful uncluttered creations which hide elaborate scriptwork. Nebulosus Severine's work is fairly new to me but that which I have seen have been of the finest quality. I look forward to following her work in the future.
Not only will BIW have an event in Brooklyn to showcase sl art in rl, but they will also be at the Second Life convention promoting us there as well. There are those who can see that virtual art may be the next big movement in art history. Brooklyn is Watching is one of those and should be commended for the effort they are making to promote the new frontier in art creation.
Press Contact: Jay Van Buren
"Brooklyn is Watching Best of Year 1: The Final Five"
at Jack The Pelican Presents
Exhibition: Brooklyn Is Watching, Best of Year 1: The Final Five
Artists: Dancoyote Antonelli, Bryn Oh, Nebulosis Severine, Selavy Oh and Glyph Graves
Opening: Friday, August 7, 7–9pm Eastern
Panel discussion: August 15, 6pm
Lecture: August 16, 6pm
Blog: BrooklynIsWatching.com
Dates:August 7¬–23, 2009
Address:487 Driggs Avenue at N. 9th, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
SL Location: East of Odyssey
Virtual art comes to Brooklyn. Inside the gallery are five monitors, each featuring a virtual copy of the real space occupied by a different virtual artwork. These are "The Final Five," created for this context by the nominated and elected best of the hundreds of virtual artists who have exhibited in year 1 of Brooklyn is Watching.
The Artists are: Dancoyote Antonelli, Glyph Graves, Bryn Oh, Selavy Oh, and Nebulosus Severine —a diverse bunch, representing very different points of view of what it means to make virtual art. Visitors to this exhibition will have a chance to interact with the works and to vote for the best of the best.
Is virtual art for real? What is the nature of the medium? How do you talk about it? What are its conceptual and social-critical opportunities and limits? These are just some of the questions that Brooklyn Is Watching has been actively asking for the last year and a half.
Brooklyn is Watching is a mixed-reality project created by artist Jay Van Buren, and fleshed out by a rotating crew of collaborators. The stage is based in Second Life. Artists place artworks there to be seen by visitors to the Real Life venue Jack the Pelican Presents gallery—and to have their works discussed by international critics, curators and artists (including Tyler Coburn of Rhizome, and Barbara London of MoMA) in a weekly podcast and blog at BrooklynIsWatching.com. The project has been widely discussed and written up in such publications as the New York Times Magazine and the Brooklyn Rail.
Nomination and initial voting, open to the public, narrowed the field to the "30 best". From there selection to the Final Five was done by an expert panel that included SL art heavyweights: AM Radio, Amy Freelunch, AngryBeth Shortbread, Bettina Tizzy and Sage Duncan.
The final five in front of the virtual gallery. High Rez images available upon request.
The artists have employed a variety of strategies for making virtual art that relates to the virtual version of the real life space:
Nebulosus Severine envelopes the virtual gallery in a luminous fortress-of-solitude-like structure — that is a meditation on the nature of the self.
DanCoyote Antonelli (aka DC Spensley) explodes the metaphor of the virtual gallery by using the building blocks of that illusion as raw material for a dynamic, rhythmic, abstract sculpture stretching up into the sky.
Selavy Oh exploits the intrinsically flexible nature of virtual space by creating an interactive maze of nested, shifting Jack the Pelicans in which she has curated a show within a show featuring artists not selected by the judges.
Bryn Oh has turned the gallery into a ruin of glowing technological fragments infested with digital flora, inviting the viewer into her own idiosyncratic fantasy narrative.
Glyph Graves uses the gallery to show how art is a reflection of its physical and social environment by creating a work that changes based on the number of people viewing it.
In addition to the exhibit of the final five works, the opening night will feature a mixed reality installation by filmmakers Bianca Ahmadi and Juan Rubio. Jack the Pelican Presents will also host a panel discussion and lecture on the topic of digital and virtual art. The panel discussion will be held on August 15th at 6:00 PM and features Lori Landay, Stacey Fox and Pavig Lok. The lecture by Jerry Paffendorf will be on August 16th at 6:00 PM.
For more information, please contact Jay van Buren at email@example.com or 785-220-2344 and visit our blog at Brooklyniswatching.com.
Jack the Pelican Presents is a trendsetting Williamsburg gallery specializing in contemporary art.
Second Life® is the most popular online virtual world. Peak concurrent users just topped 88,000 and over 700,000 people regularly log in. Over 120 million real dollars changed hands inside Second Life® in the first quarter of 2009, some of it spent on virtual art.
Popcha! BIW's premier sponsor provides hosting for the website, the original build of the BIW space, and the scripting for the project's avatar, Monet Destiny.
Popcha! is a boutique media technology agency focused on making virtual worlds work for its clients. As one of Second Life's ® first Gold Solution Providers, Popcha! has been been singled out as a highly qualified provider who has demonstrated a high level of client satisfaction and has developed successful projects on behalf of businesses, governments, educational institutions, and other business organizations in Second Life.
The University of Kansas Department of Visual Art is providing the SL sim for the 30 Best Show and the main Brooklyn Is Watching space is now being hosted on the department's Impermanence research sim.
Located in Lawrence, Kansas, The University of Kansas is a member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and is a Research 1 University. The Department of Visual Art is comprised of 30 full time professors who teach painting, sculpture, printmaking, new media, ceramics, textiles, metals and art education, and has impressive studio space.
Odyssey is providing the SIM for the Final Five show.
Odyssey is a simulator in the virtual world of Second Life® (SL) dedicated to contemporary art and performance. Providing services for artists and arts organizations, the aim is to experiment and work on art in a virtual 3D context and to explore the specific conditions under which art in a virtual world takes place. Odyssey artists and performers explore and experiment with this medium as a tool for art production and art environment. It is less a matter of importing existing art forms – they are interested in pushing the SL medium in new directions and exploring its full potential in a professional manner and to develop new forms out of the context of art history and in a critical view on the SL medium.
Tekserve provided us with the computer that visitors use at the gallery.
Tekserve is a privately held company with over 200 employees, operating in New York City and serving clients worldwide. Tekserve was founded in 1987 by David Lerner and Dick Demenus to provide service for customers needing Apple computer repairs at reasonable prices. Having met that need, they were encouraged to expand the business to offer Macintosh sales and consulting services as well.
VOOS is providing seating for the gallery.
VOOS was founded on the exciting philosophy of exploring the rich creative pool of New York City Furniture Designers. A hybrid of store, showroom, and a meeting point for local designers and design-lovers, VOOS is an address where locally made unique furniture: always fresh and sizzling with energy, is celebrated with a bi-monthly renewed inventory, an ever-expanding designer list, and fun events to keep the design community connected and happy!
Brooklyn Brewery is our exclusive beer sponsor.
Brooklyn Brewery is the first successful commercial brewery in New York City since Schaefer and Rheingold closed their doors in 1976. Today, The Brooklyn Brewery is among America's top 40 breweries, and Brooklyn Lager is among the top draft beers in New York City.
Brooklyn is Watching Collaborators Past and Present: Stacey Fox, Beth Harris, Boris Kizelshteyn, Norene Leddy, Jenna Spevack, Amy Wilson, Steven Zucker
Special thanks to Dekka Raymaker for his help creating the virtual Jack the Pelican Presents, and to Penumbra Carter and Sage Duncan for their work on Machinima for the Exhibition. Thanks to Catherine Garnier for installation design and video editing.
Brooklyn is Watching 2009 Interns: Kristen Galvin, Elena Lauren Levis, Nicole Sansone, Walter Scott.


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Man charged in Norwich homicide
Norwich - City police charged a self-employed carpenter Wednesday morning with the shooting death of the woman he married just three weeks ago. At 11:39 p.m. Tuesday, police were called to 257 Norwich Avenue in Taftville, the rented home of Chihan Eric Chyung and his wife, Paige Bennett Chyung, both 46. There they found Paige Chyung dead and arrested Chihan Chyung without incident, charging him with first-degree manslaughter with a firearm. He was arraigned Wednesday morning in Norwich Superior Court and held on $1 million bond.Police would not elaborate on why Chyung was charged with manslaughter and not murder, but according to state laws, first-degree manslaughter is charged when a person has the intent to cause serious physical injury to another person which results in death. It also applies when police believe a person intends to cause the death of another person, but acts "under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance" or when a person "recklessly engages in conduct which creates grave risk of death to another person and thereby causes the death of that person."More details on the charges were not available because the court sealed the record of the initial investigation, which is ongoing. A bail commissioner said Chyung has lived in the area for eight years and has no prior convictions. An autopsy is scheduled for today at the state office of the Chief Medical Examiner.'I want to ask him why'Sheila Monter of Radler Road in Preston learned the oldest of her four daughters was dead when police knocked on her door at 5:30 Wednesday morning. Monter said Paige was a loving sister to Allison Andreoli of Oklahoma, Nicole Monter of San Diego, and Alexandra Monter of Preston, as well as the mother of three children ages 24, 19 and 17, and two grandchildren, including a 1-month-old grandson."I don't know how this could happen," Monter said. "When she got married she said 'This is the happiest day of my life.'"I want to know. I want to ask him why he did this to my daughter."Paige Chyung, who attended Norwich Free Academy, was a patient-care technician at The William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich. She was admired by both patients and fellow employees, her mother said. The hospital is providing grief counseling for employees who knew her. Monter said the couple was married in a small ceremony with just her and Chyung's three children present. She said no one from Chihan Chyung's family was there. Monter said she didn't know much about her son-in-law's family."He had tears in his eyes when he kissed her," Monter said. "I thought that was a good thing. I just don't understand how he could pick up a gun and kill her." Mariellen French of Mystic has been friends with Monter for more than 30 years. On Wednesday night, she recalled her lasting image of Paige.She said the family's yard was "more meadow than mowed." "Paige was 15 years old. She had beautiful, long, red hair and this day she was wearing a pastel-colored dress and she was running through the meadow. It was like an Impressionist painting."French said the couple was in a motorcycle accident last August."I think she broke her arm," French said. "He had cuts on his face. For a motorcycle accident they came out pretty good. It could have been a lot worse. "But this is such a tragedy. She came from such a loving family."Shawn Mawhiney, a spokesman at Backus, said Paige Chyung started work at the hospital in 2000 as a dietary assistant. In 2005, she became a patient-care technician or nurse's aide."Here at the hospital we are mourning her tragic death," Mawhiney said. "We extend our condolences to her co-workers, family and friends."Herman Michaud met Paige while he was at Backus Hospital. He rented the house at 257 Norwich Ave. to the couple about two months ago. He said Paige was taking care of him when he happened to mention that he owned a rental property.She was looking for a place to live and immediately asked to rent the house, a two-and-a-half-story, single-family home tucked between two multifamily houses, all of which are below street level and accessed by staircases from busy Norwich Avenue. A Bob's Discount Furniture distribution center is behind the three houses.Michaud called Chihan Eric Chyung "nuts." He said one time his son, who has multiple sclerosis, was making repairs to the home and Chyung made fun of him.Norwich police and the state police Eastern District Major Crime Squad were still at the home investigating the shooting Wednesday morning.Chihan Eric Chyung's next court appearance is scheduled for June email@example.com firstname.lastname@example.com
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subset: commoncrawl


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The CENTURY 21® Canada Open House Weekend Blitz Contest is back.
It's time to profit from your patio Canada!
- Visit a participating CENTURY 21 open house on May 2 or 3
- Sign in and you could WIN the grand prize Grill n' Chill Backyard Bundle including:
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Or, WIN 1 of 5 regional prizes of 5,000 AIR MILES® reward miles
Come out of hibernation and drop by an open house!
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copyright © 2020 Accommodation Whitsundays. All rights reserved.


text:
By Joshua Zerkel, Custom Living Solutions
Have you ever met someone with a messy desk or cluttered office that uses it as a way to demonstrate how busy or important he or she is? Having a visual indicator of what's going on can be helpful, but there's a point where it starts getting out of control and begins to take a toll on you and your productivity. There's no need to wear your clutter – whether physical, digital, or schedule-related – as a badge of honor. Clutter has real costs – and in order for you to stay productive and sane, it's important to recognize those costs and look for strategies to overcome them.
Clutter costs you opportunities. When you attend a networking event, what do you do with the business cards you collect? If you're like many of the people I work with, you spend lots of time networking, meeting people, and collecting their cards – only to get the cards back to your office, put a rubber band around them, and never follow-up again. How about the phone leads that you receive and write down on whatever scrap of paper happens to be around (and then proceed to quickly lose)? If these end up as piles on, around, and under your desk, you're losing out on opportunities. Instead of cluttered piles of information, develop a system for follow-up so that you can take action on those important contacts.
Clutter costs you money. Buried in those piles of paper on your desk could be an unpaid bill, or an offer for a credit card at a lower interest rate than you're paying right now. Even though those items are "somewhere," if you can't find them and act on them easily, clutter has taken a toll – often in the form of late fees, higher interest, or missed deadlines. I've worked with quite a number of clients who have plenty of money in the bank, but have consistently been paying bills late (and incurring fees) because they simply can't put their hands on their bills, don't have a system for paying them regularly, and forget about them. Create a strategy so that you're always on top of any documents that could have a financial impact on you or your business.
Clutter costs you stress. Even though clutter, disorganization, and lack of productivity can cost you money and may force you to miss out on important opportunities, it has an even bigger, more far-reaching consequence in your life: stress and overwhelm. Now, it's true that there are some folks out there who seem to function well when there's a cluttered environment – and if that's you, great. But what I know from working with my clients over the years is that a cluttered environment, lack of systems, and nowhere for your eyes to rest in your space can create almost paralyzing amounts of stress, lack of focus, and a sense of generalized business overwhelm. Make a plan for how you're going to tackle each area of your space or each system that you need to create, and then follow it step-by-step to get unstuck and relieve yourself of clutter-related overwhelm and stress.
What are some of the ways clutter costs you? Sound off in the comments below.
Editor's Note: This article is brought to you by AnyMeeting, the completely free web conferencing and webinar service. Use AnyMeeting for your next online meeting.


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This is why I hate video games sometimes.
Here's Part 18 of my playthrough of "Quantum Break."
"Quantum Break" is set at and around Riverport University, where a time travel experiment has gone wrong. The event not only causes time to start breaking down, but also grants the two main characters—Jack Joyce and Paul Serene — different time-based abilities. For example, Serene, the main antagonist, can see into the future to decide which choices to make in the present; while Joyce, one of the two protagonists, can stop time. Joyce and his ally, Beth Wilder are pursued by Monarch Solutions, a corporation founded by Serene.
For more ridiculous reviews, subscribe: http://tinyurl.com/n3ejakr
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Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Silver_Screenin
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Link to the playlist: http://tinyurl.com/jghtgcg


text: Most Funny Quotes : . 12 January 2020 Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Most Funny Quotes : QUOTATION – Image : Quotes Of the day – Life Quote . Sharing is Caring RELATED QUOTESMORE FROM AUTHOR Life Quotes : Photo Life Quotes : "You can't explain everything to everybody. Some people just won't get it and you have to be ok with…" Life Quotes : "Let people be hungry for you. Be unavailable from time to time, you're focusing on your shit." Life Quotes : "Loneliness happens when you're not friends with yourself." Life Quotes : "Being offended is a sign that something inside of you needs to be fixed." Life Quotes : "I'm tired of hearing we need more women in… We don't need more anyone in anything. We just…" LEAVE A REPLY Cancel reply Please enter your comment! Please enter your name here You have entered an incorrect email address! Please enter your email address here Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. TRENDING RIGHT NOW Valentine's Day 2020 : April Fools' Day 2020: the best... 11 March 2020 Love Quotes For Him : 200+ Sweet Love Messages and Sayings... 4 December 2019 Inspirational And Motivational Quotes : 23 Great Inspiring Quotes and Words... 16 December 2019 + 100 Ramadan Kareem Greetings : DesertRose,;,رمضان كريم جميل يترك... 28 April 2020 POPULAR CATEGORIESFunny2462Love2103Lifestyle2061Happy New Year1778Soulmate1540Jealousy1332Motivational1253Wedding Quotes1154Life302


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Quote of the Day
"I've learned to place those cares in the hands of One who can handle them."
~Chuck Swindoll (from "Leaving It to God?")
Today's Answer
Don't Judge?
Greg Laurie
Do you know what the nonbeliever's favorite verse is? It is Matthew 7:1: "Do not judge others, and you will not be judged." This verse is usually quoted after we say something like, "Well you know what? I don't think that is right."
This verse, however, is not telling us that we should not make judgments, because in other passages we read that as believers, we are indeed to make evaluations, to be discerning, and yes - to even make judgments. In fact, thebible asks, "Don't you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world, can't you decide even these little things among yourselves?" (1 Corinthians 6:2). We are also told in Scripture that "judgment must begin with God's household" (1 Peter 4:17).
We are to judge, but we are not to condemn. In fact, a better translation of Matthew 7:1 would be: "Do not condemn others, and you will not be condemned." I am in no position to condemn a person. But I am in a position to make judgments about things, situations, viewpoints, and even about people to some degree.
"Don't judge!" is said by people who don't like it when we dare to have a christian worldview. In fact, I have found that the most narrow-minded people are those who claim to be the most broad-minded. Those who claim to be the most accepting are often the least accepting. Because when a Christian has an opinion, a nonbeliever will say, "How dare you say that! Who are you to judge?"
There is a living God, and He has revealed himself in the pages of Scripture. Therefore, as believers, we accept the fact that we have absolute truth from God. And we develop our worldview from what the Bible teaches.
Taken from "The Nonbeliever's Favorite Verse" by Harvest Ministries (used by permission).
Today's Video
Why is Obeying Scripture so Important?
Answered by R.C. Sproul
Do you have questions about the life, ministry, and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Get real answers at Jesus.org.


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Orientation for New CCTV Members
Orientation for New CCTV Members
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How Scott Stringer went from longshot to 800-pound gorilla
Back when Scott Stringer was running for mayor, he was a certain thing: the generally well-regarded liberal without a firm base, significant establishment support, or a realistic way forward.
Now, as a candidate for city comptroller, the Manhattan borough president is the one taking up all the room, picking up endorsements (now that he's not a threat to the other mayoral candidates) from a broad array of Democratic officialdom and killing off the hopes of the lesser-known contenders.
NY1 reporter Grace Rauh's apt Stringer hashtag, on learning this morning that City Councilman Domenic Recchia was dropping out, was #willanyonerunagainsthim.
The answer, for all intents and purposes, is no.
It sets Stringer up for what ought to be an easy campaign, or at least one that is the stylistic opposite of his aborted mayoral bid, in which Stringer was running as the fashionable outsider, generating attention on the margins with digs at front-runner Christine Quinn for her closeness to Michael Bloomberg, endorsements from non-political celebrity friends and distinctively bold positioning on nerdy issues that no one else in the field bothered to spend much time addressing.
Stringer's mayoral rivals treated him like he was shooting spitballs.
His erstwhile rivals in the comptroller's race, meanwhile, have treated him like a Tammany Hall boss, with a union logo tattooed on his forearm and a New York Times endorsement on his forehead.
The thing is, in the down-ballot races, name recognition and organization are about all that matter. Most voters don't even know what it is, precisely, that the comptroller does: it's a technical job with heavy operational constraints.
All the would-be candidates are aware of this.
Councilman Dan Garodnick, a credible and well-funded public servant with a base in the voter-rich Stuy Town-Peter Cooper Village area, dropped out a little more than a week after Stringer's announcement. He won't face term limits on the Council until 2017.
Recchia, a sharp lawyer and accomplished retail politician who chaired the Council's finance committee, and whose initial reaction to Stringer's entry into the comptroller's race was to paint him as a big bad machine-backed bully, dropped out and endorsed Stringer today. Recchia is likely to enter the Brooklyn borough president's race.
Which means that, assuming scandal-tarred comptroller John Liu doesn't run for re-election, Stringer is it.


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Have you ever found yourself disbelieving your own eyes or being flabbergasted at a decision that defies logic? For instance, what would happen if you sold all of your wine for less than it cost to produce? Or how about making legislation that made the possession of cigarettes illegal? What would you say if someone told you they wanted to try and change WallMart into Nordstrom? Those are all placeholders for a discussion on business strategies and odd news from last week.
Crazy Government
Up in Oregon last week, Representative Mitch Greenlick decided to introduce a bill that would make possession of cigarette's illegal. How stupid is that? Yes I know smoking is stupid too, but if Prohibition proved anything, its that kind of law aimed at limiting consumption of perceived nefarious substances only encourages underground distribution of said substances, which in the end leads to new laws protecting the formerly felonious distributors.
Crazy Business
Pets.com. The founders started the company under the premise they would build market share by discounting their goods, and once their base was established, cut back on the discounting. There was never any validation of the market done and the company was unable to survive because they were selling their goods for much less than it cost to buy them. What happened to buy low and sell high? Asked how they would dig their way out of the problem, their answer was they need to increase sales. Hmmmmm. How crazy is that?
Crazy Discounters
TastingRoom.com which closed its own doors on its retail business. Lot18 is another venture backed start up, but in this case a wine retailer that focused on selling discounted wines. I covered the Lot18 UK closure in a prior SVB on Wine post and have for several years questioned the viability of wine flash sites in speeches and the SVB Annual State of the Wine Industry Report.
To be successful wine flash sites have to get producers to sell wine at a significant discount and that would only happen in a market that was oversupplied on wine. I am disbelieving of the long term survival of any business built on a strategy founded on temporary market conditions. Sure a sales strategy can evolve but its really hard to evolve a business that sells only on price, into a real moderated retail experience where the consumer is shopping for the product attributes beyond price. Think about WalMarts departure from their strategy of being the price leader a couple years back. Did they ever have a chance to become something more than a price leader? Lot18 has now moved away from the discounting strategy and is trying to incorporate retail strategies other than price discounts, which is why I was so intrigued by the acquisition of TastingRoom.com.
Wine Industry Insight, the downfall of the business might have been leaving the initial business model and getting into selling standard format wines. If so that would have been a disappointing path for them to take as they left the clean air of their unique product, and delved into a part of the business that has plenty of competitors and compressed margins.
I'm hoping the combination of Lot18 and and TastingRoom.com turns out well because I had high hopes for both of these companies when they started. They are needed parts of the 5th Column of wine sales, but I can't help but wonder if its not a case of two non-swimmers meeting in the middle of a lake. Hopefully this acquisition/marketing agreement turns out to be brilliant!
Crazy Fred
The price increase of Two Buck Chuck to $2.49 was the first broad price increase since inception. You have to ask why? Is it because Chuck Shaw has been blinded by his celebrity and is going upscale on us? I don't think so.
When the brand was founded by Fred Franzia in 2002, he was quoted saying, "Only suckers pay more than $10.00 for a good bottle of wine," and he convinced Trader Joe's to sell the Charles Shaw label for $1.99 thus garnering the brand the nick name Two Buck Chuck and creating the Super Value Segment. Many at the time opined that it wasn't a segment at all, but more reflective of the bulge in bulk wine created from the Tech Bubble and the tragedy of 9-11. Certainly once the bulge was gone, the label would disappear like so many negociant brands before. But it didn't. Today calling the brand a success after 600 million bottles sold would be a massive exercise in understatement.
How does all this tie together? Wine availability. Lot18 has changed their model because they had to. They can't get the same quality bottled wine as 2 years ago and be successful in a discounting model. To think wine flash sites can have a long term strategy selling only on price to me is crazy. Fred Franzia's people are the best in the business locating and manipulating wine. If they can't find wine at a price that can retail profitably for $2.00 a bottle, then the wine doesn't exist.
While Fred has his detractors and he's had a string of litigation surrounding his business practices over the years, there is nobody I know who calls him crazy. What it says to me is as the wine business evolves into shortages, there is still opportunity to find successful strategies. It also reinforces that a long view of business strategy is critical for success. Some can see that and some can't.


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Pope Francis: Labor's True Purpose Should Attend Man
On the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, the Holy Father reiterates themes promulgated in Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical 'Rerum Novarum' and discusses all types of 'slave labor.'
VATICAN CITY — Marking the feast of St. Joseph the Worker yesterday, Pope Francis said at his general audience this week that work should serve man and contribute to his dignity, rather than man serving his work.
"How many people worldwide are victims of this type of slavery, in which the person is at the service of his or her work, while work should offer a service to people so they may have dignity?" the Pope said May 1 in St. Peter's Square.
He added a plea to "my brothers and sisters in faith and all men and women of good will for a decisive choice to combat trafficking in persons, which is a part of 'slave labor.'"
Rather than a restricted view of "slave labor" focusing only on enslavement and human trafficking, the Pope said that any "work that enslaves" could be considered "slave labor."
Work should instead respect the inherent worth of the human person, as Christ learned growing up from his legal father, St. Joseph.
"Jesus is born and lives in a family, in the Holy Family, learning the craft of carpenter from St. Joseph in his workshop in Nazareth, sharing with him the commitment, effort, satisfaction and also the difficulties of every day."
Pope Francis said this is a reminder for us of the "dignity and importance" of labor. "Work is part of God's loving plan," he said, and the Lord calls us to "cultivate and care for all the goods of creation," thereby participating in the "work of creation."
"Work is fundamental to the dignity of a person. Work, to use an image, 'anoints' us with dignity, fills us with dignity, makes us similar to God, who has worked and still works, who always acts; it gives us the ability to maintain ourselves, our family, to contribute to the growth of our nation."
The Holy Father then reflected on the unemployment afflicting so many, which he said is often due to "a purely economic conception of society, which seeks selfish profit, beyond the parameters of social justice."
In light of this situation, he called for solidarity among all persons, for politicians to encourage employment out of care "for the dignity of the person," and for people everywhere to maintain hope.
"St. Joseph also experienced moments of difficulty, but he never lost faith and was able to overcome them, in the certainty that God never abandons us," he remarked.
Pope Francis exhorted young people to be committed to their daily duties — study, work, friendship and aid to others — reminding them that "your future also depends on how you live these precious years of your life."
"Do not be afraid of commitment, of sacrifice" he told them, "and do not look with fear towards the future; keep your hope alive. There is always a light on the horizon."
He concluded by reflecting that St. Joseph and Mary both focused their attention on Christ, and they are models for us.
"To listen to the Lord, we must learn to contemplate, feel his constant presence in our lives, and we must stop and converse with him, give him space in prayer," he said. "Let us remember the Lord more in our daily life."
Noting that May is dedicated to Our Lady, Pope Francis reminded his listeners that the Rosary and the Hail Mary lead us to contemplate the mysteries of Christ, "that is, to reflect on the key moments of his life, so that, as with Mary and St. Joseph, he is the center of our thoughts, of our attention and our actions."
"It would be nice if, especially in this month of May, we could pray the Holy Rosary together in the family, with friends, in the parish or some prayer to Jesus and the Virgin Mary," he suggested. "Praying together is a precious moment that further strengthens family life, friendship."


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The iOS 4.3 update enabled third-party applications to take advantage of AirPlay and stream content to the AppleTV and other compatible devices. Since it went live, developers have been updating their apps to include AirPlay support, and we've put together a list of the top 10 iOS apps that are currently AirPlay ready. We've chosen apps to keep you entertained, up to date with the latest news, and even one to help you workout.
Check them out after the break!


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Molly Dilworth, 547 West 27th Street (2009). From the series "Paintings for Satellites."
In the early 2000s, as location-aware devices first became commonplace, there was a lot of hype surrounding their potential creative use by artists. However, over time, this initial enthusiasm for "locative media"--projects that respond to data or communications technologies that refer to particular sites--leveled off, even dissipated. Regardless of this drought, geospatial technologies are widely used, and play an important and often unnoticed role in conditioning many aspects of our existence. Responding to this condition of ubiquity, artists have continued to use locative technologies critically, opening up closed systems, making their effects visible, and reconfiguring our relationship with such systems.


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By Colby Hess
In a world of ever-widening extremes – from weather patterns to wealth disparities to polarized politics – what does it mean to be a moderate? More specifically, how does this term apply to religion?
Viewed in the context of most everyday activities and situations and in line with Aristotle's idea of the "Golden Mean" (which states that virtue lies at the midpoint between two vices; i.e. courage lies between cowardice and recklessness, etc.), it could be said that a moderate stance is generally better than an extremist one. For example, being a moderate drinker seems to strike a pretty good balance between being healthy and having fun, as opposed to the opposite extremes of being an ascetic teetotaler or a raging alcoholic. Likewise, being politically moderate, if nothing else, tends to generate far less strife during dinner conversations amid mixed company or at large family gatherings.
Then again, for some activities moderate is still too far from the bell curve – particularly in cases where conventional wisdom has taken up residence at one of the distant ends of the spectrum of possibilities. For example, while being moderately racist may be an improvement over being a hate-filled white supremacist neo-Nazi skinhead, it still leaves a lot to be desired if hoping to join enlightened humanity in recognizing equal rights for all people based on our shared human condition. Along these same lines, it's doubtful that someone declaring himself to be only moderately pedophiliac will bring much comfort as far as entrusting him to be alone around children.
For some realms, such as the purely logical field of mathematics, being moderate in the sense of trying to strike a balance or compromise between positions doesn't make any sense at all. You can't choose to be neutral between the vast majority who acknowledge that 1 +1 = 2 and some lunatic who insists 1 + 1 = 3 by simply splitting the difference and declaring 1 +1 = 2.5.
When it comes to religion, being moderate is similarly troublesome. Despite the high regard in which this seemingly sensible, centrist position is held among polite society, it is, to put it bluntly, intellectually unsupportable. When you think about it, how does one actually go about being moderate in religious belief? Do you say that Jesus sort of died for our sins? Do you declare that God is clearly omnipotent but omniscience is pure fantasy? Perhaps moderation consists of subtly acknowledging the likelihood that your most dearly-held religious convictions are flat-out wrong? Or is it less a matter of substance than of commitment – a socially acceptable apathy that allows one to care far more about football than divinity while still going through the motions for the sake of conforming to tradition or satisfying the in-laws?
The basis for believing the tenets of any organized, faith-based religion – particularly the big three Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – is ultimately the holy book that each one is predicated upon – the Torah, the Bible, and the Qur'an respectively. It should be pointed out that for all of their numerous flaws, fundamentalists of all three persuasions are at least consistent in recognizing this. To say, "I think this book was dictated by the Almighty Creator of the universe as explicit instructions for how humans are supposed to live, and therefore I strive to abide by every last word it contains," while perhaps not a rational belief (as it's not based on evidence and reasoned argument, nor does it take into account the inevitable translation and transcription errors in going from Aramaic, to Greek, to Latin, to English or from palm leaves and camel bones to parchment) – it's at least perfectly logical. If your initial premise is correct, then your chosen course of action logically follows.
Most moderate adherents of these religions, however, practice what can be termed "salad bar theology" – picking and choosing only the parts they like and discarding the rest. Let's say for instance, that you prefer to look upon the Bible as a mixture of folk history, tribal mythology, and "inspired" verse presented in the form of allegory and metaphor. Fine, then where do you begin? How do you decide which parts to accept, which to reject outright, and which to "interpret" or take with a grain of salt? No matter how you answer this question, how is it not completely arbitrary? By what non-subjective criteria do you determine the truth? By what means do you separate fact from fiction or decide which of two contradictory passages is correct?
Contrast this with how science works. Scientists are not really at liberty to accept claims made by biologists regarding the basic facts of evolution while simultaneously rejecting claims made by physicists regarding the speed of light. To do so would invalidate the objectivity of the entire enterprise. Science operates by gathering observable facts about the universe, organizing them into a rational framework based on a recognition of the underlying patterns connecting them, and then testing these hypotheses through experiment and further observation to see if they accurately describe reality. If they appear to do so, then science can move forward, adjusting for future discoveries as necessary. If they don't align with the facts then it's back to the drawing board, but it still counts as progress, for at least incorrect proposals have been eliminated. The point is that the scientific method applies equally to all fields of inquiry, so it's not valid to just decide the truth by fiat based on what happens to emotionally sit well or not for any particular facet of existence.
The irony as this relates to religion is that most people claiming to be moderate or liberal religionists do so because they're caught in a bind – they're not willing to reject science outright but nor do they want to have to give up their comforting illusions which are largely incompatible with it. At the same time, they don't wish to be lumped in with the zealots, fanatics, and violent extremists (of which there are disturbingly many). So they'll say things such as, "I don't believe the stuff about the virgin birth or walking on water [as these are demonstrably, physically impossible] but I still think Jesus was a great moral leader and I still believe in some kind of higher power whom I'm perfectly comfortable calling 'God.'" Yet in doing so, they seldom if ever stop to critically examine these beliefs. More likely than not, they were ingrained in them at a very early age by their own parents – people whom they love and trust implicitly – and they were further reinforced over long years of being surrounded by others of like-minded beliefs.
The problem is, by never questioning the root of such beliefs, they render themselves incapable of honestly criticizing those who take these supposedly moderate viewpoints to violent or oppressive extremes. For examples of such religious wrongdoing and the moderates' confused responses, one needs look no further than the daily news.
Much has been said elsewhere about the obvious problems with radical Islam (the 9-11 attacks in New York, the Bali bombings, Madrid train bombings, London Underground bombings, and countless suicide bombings in Israel) as well as about the conspicuous lack of "moderate" Muslim voices denouncing such atrocities. Likewise with Judaism; the ongoing issues with the Palestinians – particularly those of illegal settlements and the disputed status of Jerusalem and its holy sites – speak volumes about extremist Jews and their clashes with their more moderate and secular compatriots. For the moment though, let's redirect our focus back to the dominant religion in America today – Christianity.
Christianity has a long and distinguished history of brutality; from the Crusades and the Inquisition, to the Wars of Religion that ravaged Europe in the 16th century, to the subjugation and slaughter of the natives of the New World and South Pacific. But such barbarity continues right into the present day.
Take, for example, the case of Nigeria. Evangelical Christian pastors there have recently taken to denouncing children as witches and having them subsequently tortured and murdered – usually by members of their own family. (Click here to read about it.) This is done in accordance with the Bible's exhortation in Exodus 22:18 that, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." What's so enlightening about this particular example is that it's such a clear-cut case of causation – these atrocious acts are being instigated by religious leaders on a direct religious pretext, so it can't be written off as mere correlation (violence committed by people who just so happen to be Christian).
Behavior like this ought to strike any ethical person, anyone with the least bit of compassion or sense of shared humanity, as nothing less than inexcusable savagery. The fact that it's being done in the name of religion would seem to make it all the worse. But does it really? For when you think about, on what basis can moderate Christians condemn this act without being hypocrites?
To condemn the source of it they would have to discredit their own holy book – the supposed basis of all their ideas regarding good and evil as well as their feel-good notions about Jesus. After all, these pastors sincerely believe they are following God's explicit instructions to a tee. The same could be said for those who take too seriously (without necessarily acting on) commands such as, "Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death," which Rick Santorum equates gay marriage to. Or, "if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife," – the origin of shotgun weddings.
Maybe they could appeal to some other parts of the Bible, such as the commandment that "Thou shalt not kill"? The problem here is that this and the other nine commandments were delivered by Moses (via God/talking bush on fire) – the exact same guy who, two chapters later, dictated the instructions for how to deal with witches. So which Moses command is one supposed to obey? Are the Ten Commandments the express will of God but the witch stuff just Moses having a bad day?
If, as described above, moderates choose not to view the Bible as the direct word of God and they instead permit themselves to selectively ignore large parts of what's supposed to be their own sacred Scriptures, they must then employ some kind of extra-Biblical morality in order to condemn its contents. They have to somehow be able to decide that things like slavery and the subjugation of women are morally reprehensible despite what the Bible says to the contrary, thus demolishing the commonly accepted argument that the Bible is the source of our ideas about right and wrong. So, if it's not the source of morality and it doesn't accurately convey the intentions of the master of the universe, it quickly devolves into just one book among millions and therefore deserves no special, exalted status. It might be of historical interest for the inordinate influence it's wielded over Western culture for the past two millennia but even on that count, for eloquence it has nothing over Cicero and in profundity it lags far behind Plato (incidentally, both pagans). I'd strongly encourage anyone to read all three and decide for yourself.
Where then does this leave the moderate Christian wishing to disavow the barbarous actions of those Nigerian pastors? I suppose they could take an old-school racist/imperialist perspective and just dismiss this behavior as that of sub-human, uncivilized, backward jungle dwellers but that would hardly fly with modern sensibilities or standard notions of racial equality and multiculturalism. Besides, it was white Europeans who led the charge on Bible-based witchcraft hysteria and mass murder with the Malleus Maleficarum of the late Middle Ages, when hundreds of thousands of accused witches were burned at the stake, and then again in the early days of the colonization of America with the infamous witch hunts in Salem.
Perhaps moderates can look to these pastors' reasons for believing the Bible in the first place. It's pretty obvious they don't believe it as a result of objective analysis, clear, deliberative thinking, or because of all the empirical evidence supporting its assertions. If they did it wouldn't be called religion; it would be called science. So it must be that they accept its contents as a matter of faith. Does that mean that moderates can then attack faith as the root of such evil? Alas, no such luck; for it's been hammered into their heads since birth that faith is "much more precious than of gold." (1 Peter 7) It's no wonder either. Of course "doubting Thomas" was ridiculed by Jesus for his skepticism, for without faith (and the fact that the falsifiability its most basic claim – the gift of everlasting life – lies conveniently out of touch, beyond the grave), faith-based religion as a system of thought or way of describing reality is left looking pretty pathetic.
Okay then; let's recap where the moderate stands. They believe in God based on faith and the Bible. But they can't be fully on board with the Bible as it contains far too many contradictions, absurdities, and atrocities for any moderately intelligent and reasonably ethical person to latch onto wholeheartedly. So they resort to using their naturally evolved, inborn sense of right and wrong (possessed by theists, atheists, and all other humans alike) to pick out some parts they like and reject others that they don't. As for God, they can't try to prove his existence as they would do with the existence of say, the planet Neptune, by appealing to observational evidence (and for which, as the ones making an extraordinary claim, they are saddled with the burden of providing proof). So they rely instead on faith. But faith, as we've seen, by not requiring further justification other than, "It's just what I choose to believe," can be used as a pretext for the actions of saints and sinners alike. As the saying goes, "Science flies people to the moon. Faith flies people into skyscrapers." So all the moderate can really do is sadly exclaim, "Well I may happen to believe that same crazy stuff but I don't do crazy things because of it." That doesn't seem like much of a basis for trying to establish oneself on the moral high ground.
Atheists on the other hand, face no such limitations, for atheists are not shackled by any preconceived ideas of how things are supposed to be. We are free to find fault with any idea or action that is maladaptive to or incompatible with human well-being – that is, with health, happiness and general flourishing. We can cheerfully point out the flaws in radical Islam or radical Christianity with equal irreverence and we can do the same with even moderate strains of religion as well as the hate-filled books upon which they're based. And the crucial difference is that we're not using our own irrational prejudices as our basis (unless you count a predilection for rationality to be a prejudice).
I've pointed out elsewhere the inherent problems with "just believing" in a higher power based on intuition, wishful thinking, or the superficial attractiveness of the idea. Moreover, like those who watch kiddy porn or buy ivory jewelry, all adherents of faith-based religions act as enablers for the perpetrators of terrible crimes. By revering the same books, and by worshipping, loving, and fearing the same supernatural God, they inadvertently permit religion-inspired violence to continue by providing a veneer of respectability for the worst of the devout crazies. On top of this, they render themselves impotent to criticize such acts without engaging in selective reasoning at best or blatant hypocrisy at worst. I'll thus leave it up to the reader to decide – atheist, moderate, or zealot – which is best for humanity? Where should the bell curve lie?
Colby Hess is a freelance writer and photographer living near Seattle, WA. He is currently writing a book about science, philosophy, and freethought. Follow him on Twitter @ColbyTHess.
Originally published as:
"The Problem With Moderates" on May 12, 2012 by Disinformation > http://www.disinfo.com/2012/05/the-problem-with-moderates/


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» Coupling real estate investment with the construction of new transit lines is the future, but the conditions need to be right.
Public development and ownership of the transportation system in the United States provided some broad, important social benefits that would not have been possible had our governments left it in the hands of the private sector. The downfall of the public transit and rail industries between the 1930s and 1970s throughout the country (itself partly a consequence of government investment in roads) was due to the fact that those services were no longer profitable. Government intervention through takeover of bankrupt lines kept those services operating and ensured the continuing existence of what is truly an essential public service in our major metropolitan areas.
Yet with the governments takeover of transit services, our regions lost a powerful skill that private transportation providers a century ago used well: Connecting new development with transit investments. The history of
Continue reading How broadly applicable is the All Aboard Florida development strategy? »


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As Baby Boomers--the generation born from 1946 to 1964--reaches their mid-fifties and beyond (more than 80 million over the next forty years), large print resources will be increasing important to them. Not only the normal aging effects come in to play but the fact that this generation has eye fatigue from the large number of hours working in front of computer screens.
In this context the Holman CSB® Giant Print Reference Bible could become one of the fastest growing families in your Bible department. The print is a comfortable fourteen point type. This is a full reference Bible with cross references placed at the end of paragraphs.


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people are just really condescending on here. I'm not COMPLAINING, I'm stating a fact, something that you probably feel the instinct to quibble about if you're one of the people who talks about how long you've been programming, how surprised you are to see the same programming mistakes crop up in all these beginner programmers, and basically how easy it is to do anything someone else seems to be having trouble with. And then you tell them how to do it - obviously after you've arrogantly established your superiority.
Cue comment: "You don't have to read those posts. This is a programming board, not a therapy circle jerk." It's like you don't know how else to be, like you think you've been having coffee with Charles Babbage for the last thirty years and you've been exchanging notes, like you're the only one who did your homework in college or impressed the teacher or figured something out or like you're part of an elite technical group beyond the semantic gap of what's comprehensible for 99% of the population.
*climbs down off soapbox


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Letters: Say no to 'Toho;' Thanks from Girl Scouts; Car show a great success
Say no to 'Toho'
My wife and I lived and worked in Torrington for 23 years, raised our children there, and owned a home there. We retired and moved to Florence (Northampton), Massachusetts, 15 years ago, but we still love Torrington and visit friends there often.
I believe that branding the city "Toho" is a very bad idea, though conceived and supported by well-intentioned people. Like Torrington, Northampton began to lose much of its economic vitality in the 1970s and 1980s due to the decline of its manufacturing base.
But forward thinking artists and business people gave it new life in the late 1980s by bringing in cultural attractions and niche businesses. That, in turn, stimulated tourism, and the growth of restaurants, coffee shops and other meeting places, and the restoration of two historic theaters, almost all in the city's downtown district within two blocks of Smith College, and just a bus ride from the University of Massachusetts and three other prominent colleges.
One of the consequences was gentrification, which characteristically drives up the cost of housing. But that's usually unavoidable, and the city does have a highly praised affordable housing program. Another consequence was the unintentional creation of a cultural divide between the older working class community and the younger white collar/ professional class, many of them with roots elsewhere.
The natives like to call their hometown "Hamp." It's an old tradition. But the younger and/or newer people have gradually adopted the nickname "Noho." I suppose it sounds good, but I don't like it. It brands the city narrowly. It's not inclusive, and it misrepresents the city's rich history. Thankfully, the city has never officially adopted "Noho" in its marketing efforts.
But now, my old hometown of Torrington wants to officially market "Toho." It doesn't even sound good. Just say it five times out loud. Ugh!
Let's jump off the bandwagon and give this some serious thought.
Joe Manning, Florence, Massachusetts
Thank you from the Girl Scouts
On behalf of my 44,000 sister Girl Scouts, I would like to express my deepest thanks and appreciation to those who supported our 2014 Cookie Program. Thanks to you, we have sold more than 2.5 million boxes of cookies. In addition, our girls sold more than 138,000 boxes of cookies for our Gift of Caring program, Cookies for Heroes, which we will send to our service women and men at home and overseas, as well as to local community heroes.
Our Cookie Program teaches girls five important skills that will use in their everyday life: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics. The Cookie Program truly brings out the best in our girls, as many choose to give back to their local communities.
This year, cookie proceeds will be used to purchase teddy bears for a children's hospital, to making monthly crafts for hospice residents, and so much more. Your purchase of a box of Girl Scout cookies makes all this possible!
It's important to thank our 18,000 volunteers for their year-round dedication and commitment to our girls, including during the Cookie Program. We are grateful to each and every one of you who support our girls throughout the year in so many ways.
Thank you again for your generous support of Girl Scouts of Connecticut, as you are helping us build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.
Mary Barneby, Girl Scouts of Connecticut, CEO
Great participation at car show
I would like to take this time to thank everyone that participated in the Torringford Volunteer Fire Department Annual Car show that was held on Friday July 11.
The cars that came were unbelievable, S & S Sweet Treats and Kirk's Hotdog's that donated part of their sales to the car show, to Northwest Hills Credit Union that offered free cotton candy to everyone. We had prizes for all, Best Car was sponsored by Royal's Garage, Chief's Choice sponsored by Gary's Getty, Best Paint sponsored by McDonald's Auto Parts, 4th Alarm sponsored by Fire Equipment Headquarters, Captains Choice sponsored by Alfano's Torrington Hyundai, Most Unique sponsored by Northwest Hills Jeep, Chevy, Dodge, 5th Alarm sponsored by Ross Motors, Best Chevy sponsored by Northwest Hills Chevrolet, Best Ford sponsored by Torrington Ford and Lt. Choice sponsored by Grunders.
At this time I would like to say that Torringford Volunteer Fire Department is moving forward, our volunteers are working very hard to help our neighbors in need at all times. At one meeting one of our commissioners stood up and said back in 1957 we had a group of men and women who wanted to become a volunteer firefighter and they went forward.
Today we are still moving forward here on the top of the hill (East Main Street). As our motto states "Neighbors helping Neighbors."
Thank you!
Patricia L. Marciano, President, Torringford Volunteer Fire Department


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San Diego, CA — Karl Strauss Oktoberfest is a labor of love created with almost two tons of Vienna, Munich, and Carahell malts hand-milled into each batch to make this award winning seasonal entry. Unlike most beers that begin with base malt and add specialty malts for flavor, this version is made from 100% specialty malts. To balance out the richness from the malts, the brewers stayed true to tradition using imported European Hallertau Perle hops for a spicy finish. The characteristic toasty, nutty flavor has created a cult following in California, where fans eagerly await its annual return.
This year, Karl Strauss is brewing more than 25 batches to keep up with demand.
"People love this beer and to date we've already sold more Oktoberfest in Northern California than we anticipated selling this entire season. We plan on brewing 20% more than we did last year," says Paul Segura, Brewmaster, Karl Strauss Brewing Company. Weighing in at 5% ABV, this exceptional session lager is a great complement to traditional Oktoberfest fare, including grilled meats, burgers, and of course, sausages.
Karl Strauss Oktoberfest is available in six-packs and on draft across California while supplies last. Since Oktoberfest is brewed in tribute to the world's biggest beer party, the company is hosting "Karlfest" at its tasting room, complete with a local food truck and Oktoberfest steins. For more information about Karl Strauss Oktoberfest and Karlfest, visit www.karlstrauss.com/brewery. Share it. Prost.
- Specs:
Label Copy:
We brew Oktoberfest in tribute to the world's biggest beer party. Vienna and Munich malts produce the deep golden color, nutty undertones, and toasted malt flavors characteristic of this renowned Bavarian beer style. Perle hops imported directly from the Hallertau region of Germany give the beer a smooth balanced finish. This celebratory lager puts the 'fest' in the month of October.
Karlfest at the Tasting Room:
- October 5, 2013
- Half Liter commemorative steins – $10 keep the glass, fill with any beer.
- The Dog Shack food truck, featuring "The Rottweiler" — Bratwurst slow-cooked in local craft beer topped with house-made sauerkraut.
- Tasting Room: 5985 Santa Fe Street, San Diego, CA 92109
About Karl Strauss Brewing Company:
Karl Strauss Brewing Company has pioneered the San Diego beer scene since 1989 with innovative beer releases and award-winning favorites like Red Trolley Ale and Tower 10 IPA. The company took home 23 medals in 2012 and is currently ranked #39 on the list of the country's top craft breweries with sole distribution in California. 2013 is on pace to be another exciting year of double-digit sales growth, with the brewery now open to the public and a new brewery restaurant slated for this fall. For more information visit www.karlstrauss.com or call the brewery at (858) 273-2739. Share it. Cheers.


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Today, right before my eyes, thanks to the Internet, on a page headed "Children Baptized," was my ninth great-grandfather's baptism in the records of All Saints parish church, Bingley, West Yorkshire, England. The graceful script entry on a page for the year 1642 reads as follows: "Aug: 21 Steuen the sonne of Daniell Broadley de West Morton." While the location for Daniel is a bit hard to decipher on this his youngest child's baptism record, the phrase de West Morton is clear on his own burial record for November 27, 1641, also at All Saints parish church.
Viewing that page was a very satisfying part of my five-year quest to trace my Bradley ancestors from Wisconsin to Connecticut and then back to England. The first part of this genealogy journey was the discovery of the parents and place of origin of Sherman Abernethy Bradley who came from Connecticut to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the late 1850. That sleuthing used varied sources including:
> Census records from 1840 through 1905
> Genealogy books that include Leaming and Mary in a Bradley genealogy outline
> The marriage record for Leaming Bradley and Mary Simons in Litchfield, Connecticut
> Two Wisconsin marriage records for Sherman with one having his mother's maiden name (thank goodness!)
> Milwaukee city directories from the 1850s and 1860s
Using those resources, I was able to conclude that Sherman's parents were Leaming Hawkins Bradley and Mary Simons of Litchfield, Connecticut. Read that part of solving the Bradley genealogy puzzle.
Once I had made the connection between Wisconsin and Connecticut, I had many sources that outlined the genealogy for this branch of the Bradley family back to Stephen Bradley who immigrated from England. Among these sources are:
> The Descendants of Danyell Broadley de West Morton, a major Bradley genealogy online
> Profile of Stephen Bradley, son of Danyell, who came to America, in the above genealogy
> The Bradley Line including Stephen, in New England families, genealogical and memorial, Vol 4 edited by William Richard Cutter
> Profile of William Bradley of New Haven that mentions his mother and half-siblings including Stephen Bradley
And many others as the Bradley story was retold in the biographical sketches of the immigrants' descendants.
While I had encountered many times my Bradley family's origins in and around Bingley, West Yorkshire, England, I at last could see the baptism record that confirmed the story. I could look up All Saints parish church in Bingley to learn its story — the present structure is from the reign of Henry VIII — and see pictures of the church where the baptism occurred. And I could learn more about Bingley, a market town between Bradford and Keighley as seen on this map. And about the nearby rural locations of East Morton and West Morton, the latter the location for Stephen's father Danyell or Daniel.
At last I had the evidence, in the baptismal record, to say this truly was the home in England of my Bradley ancestors. All the pieces of the puzzle came together.
Please follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BBPetura
Why not check out my helpful Genealogy Resources webpage: http://bit.ly/GenealogyResources
Please join my group Finding Family for Free at GenealogyWise:
Thank you! And good researching!


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The following Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) panel type systems are approved for use on TxDOT projects:
|Reinforced Earth Walls
|The Reinforced Earth Company
1331 Airport Freeway, Suite 302
Euless, TX 76040-4150
|(817) 283-5503
|Reinforced Soil Embankment Walls
|Texas Welded Wire, Inc.
645 W. Hurst Blvd.
Hurst, TX 76053
|(817) 282-4560
|Retained Earth Walls
|Foster Geotechnical
901 North Highway 77
Hillsboro, TX 76645
|(254) 580-9100
|Stabilized Earth Wall
|Vist-A-Wall Systems, LLC
650 Justice Lane
Mansfield, TX 76063
|(817) 507-0200
|Strengthened Soil Walls
|ROSCH Earth Technologies
18390 Wings Corporate Drive
Chesterfield, MO 63005
|(636) 519-7770
|Structural Embankment, LLC
|Structural Embankment, LLC
P.O. Box 2200
Weatherford, TX 76086
|(817) 599-5700
|Tricon Retained Soil Walls
|Tricon Precast, Ltd.
15055 Henry Road
Houston, TX 77060
|(281) 931-9832
|VP Wall System
|Valley Prestress Products, Inc.
1520 Calhoun Road
P.O. Box 309
Eagle Lake, TX 77434
|(956) 584-5701
Experimental Status
The following systems are on experimental status:
|MSE Plus
|SSL Construction Products
4740 Scotts Valley Drive, Suite E
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
|(831) 430-9300
|Sine Wall
|Inventure Civil
2705 Dougherty Ferry Road
Suite 207
St. Louis, MO 63122
|(636) 349-2231
|Tensar ARES Retaining Wall System
|Tensar Earth Technologies, Inc.
2500 Northwinds Parkway
Suite 500
Alpharetta, GA 30009
|(770) 344-2090
|TriWeb Retained Soil Wall System
|Tricon Precast, Ltd.
15055 Henry Road
Houston, TX 77060
|(281) 931-9832
Systems on experimental status have been reviewed and approved by TxDOT, but have not yet constructed walls on TxDOT projects. The supplier may be contacting districts and asking to be included on upcoming projects. These systems are expected to perform acceptably and should be considered for inclusion on projects.
Note: TxDOT policy does not allow the use of experimental systems on projects with:
Contact Us
Questions regarding the use of experimental systems may be directed to:
TxDOT Bridge Division
(512) 416-2492
Copyright 2020
Texas Department of Transportation
All Rights Reserved
Privacy & Security Policy
125 East 11th Street • Austin, Texas 78701


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In Wise Guys, Ken Evans explored the significant role fathers and men have on us and how the lack of a connection with a father is hurting our youth and even adults. The statistics in this book stated the lack of fathers results in, "likely to abuse drugs and go to prison, twice as likely to drop out of school, seven times more likely to become pregnant as a teenager", and much more. Throughout the book, Ken Evans looked at the role key men figures had on his life and how they helped to shape him into the man, father, and husband that he needed to be. He begins the book by sharing how his parents went through a divorce when he was a teenager. He began to see a family therapist, Weldon C. Fuller. This men role model in his life had a remarkable impact on his life. Ken was deeply afraid of becoming his father and how he acted in the divorce. Fuller shared with Ken that we have to be extremely careful about trying to become the un-something. He stated that Ken needed to, "stop trying to not do this or not be that. Instead find some men, who have the life you want, and figure out why their situation is the way it is. Then do some thinking. What is it that makes these guys worth imitating? What do they have or embody that you want? Learn from them and then model yourself after the parts you like." (Page 25). This was a critical introduction to how Ken Evans chose to model this in his own life and how he wrote this book.
I would recommend this life changing book to all men who is ready to change their lives. I loved how Ken Evans asked men to make a list about who they wanted to be in five years and to pick twelve character traits that they want to display. Some of my traits that I want to display is hardworking, courage, integrity, and much more. I immensely enjoyed all the different stories he shared throughout the book in order to encourage men to find wise guys in their own lives that can assist them into becoming a better man, husband, and father. I like how he shared how he met his wife and how he came into a relationship with Christ. I really connected with the concept of the book and how important it is in learning and demonstrating vital character traits that other men are portraying in their life. This book can greatly benefit men, and it would make a wonderful father's gift or even a graduation gift!
For guys, more than ever, it's a confusing world. Your GPS doesn't offer any maps showing how to get to the point of wisdom — and who likes asking for directions anyway?
But there are ways to get that guidance you need. The answers may be all around you, in the form of guys you already know. Wise guys. More experienced guys. Better-traveled guys. Could there be ways to tap into their invaluable knowledge without enduring dull lectures or taking pages of notes?
Kent Evans has surrounded himself with these wise guys. They have shown him all the back roads on the way to wisdom. With a great deal of humor and an endless supply of stories, he wants to show you how to gather life-enriching truth from the guys in your own circle.
KENT EVANS is the board chairman and co-founder of Manhood Journey, a ministry that helps fathers and mentors build the next generation of godly men. Kent has personally experienced how the guidance of godly men can change the course of a life. Today he is blessed with a solid 20-year marriage, four wonderful sons and a fulfilling life – largely because of what he's learned from other men. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky, and can be found on Twitter @manhoodjourney.
Official Website - : https://www.manhoodjourney.org/wise-guys
Amazon - : http://www.amazon.com/Wise-Guys-Unlocking-Hidden-Wisdom/dp/193962228X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460165778&sr=8-1&keywords=Wise+Guys+Kent+Evans
Twitter - @manhoodjourney
"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising"): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.
Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification."
a Rafflecopter giveaway


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China's reputation for cyber-espionage has cost the country's largest network equipment manufacturer a shot at billions of dollars in infrastructure sales to Australia. The Australian government has moved to block Huawei from bidding on Australia's approximately $36 billion-dollar National Broadband Network project.
The decision by Australia's attorney general, reported March 26, was based on concerns raised by the Australian Security Intelligence Organization over the number of cyberattacks coming out of China, and that the company's equipment would provide the Chinese government backdoors into the network. "The National Broadband Network is the largest nation-building project in Australian history," a spokesperson for Australian Attorney General Nicola Roxon said in a statement, "and it will become the backbone of Australia's information infrastructure. As such, and as a strategic and significant government investment, we have a responsibility to do our utmost to protect its integrity and that of the information carried on it."
The Australian government has cause for concern. In 2011, the computers of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and then-Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd were reportedly hacked by Chinese intelligence agents. And the US defense and intelligence community have continued to warn about China's involvement in industrial espionage.
Huawei has been alleged to have benefitted from that espionage in past: Cisco accused the company of stealing technology from Cisco, but dropped its legal claims in 2004 after Huawei stopped producing a contested product. And the US Department of Defense expressed concerns about Huawei in a 2011 report to Congress (PDF) on Chinese military and security issues, because of the company's close ties to the People's Liberation Army.
Those connections haven't stopped Huawei from selling network gear elsewhere. The company has won a number of large network infrastructure supply contracts in Europe, including equipment for the deployment of LTE wireless in the UK. And Huawei has been hoping to replicate that success in Australia by bringing in local political muscle: the board of the company's Australian subsidiary is stacked with former government officials, and chaired by the former commander of the Australian Navy, retired Rear Admiral General John Lord. The company also sponsored trips to China for members of the leadership of Australia's Liberal Party. In fact, it was believed that Huawei was the internal favorite after the technical team for the NBN visited the company's headquarters in Shenzen in 2010.
So the announcement has come as something of a shock to the company's Australian executives. "This sort of whole concept of Huawei being involved in cyber warfare, presumably that would just be based on the fact that the company comes from China and everybody in China is—who's involved with information technology is involved in cyber warfare," said Alexander Downer, an independent director of Huawei Australia and a former Australian foreign affairs minister, told reporters for an Australian TV network. "This is just completely absurd."


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THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web
To my mind the most interesting piece of news to come out of the recent PASS conference was the unveiling of a new SQL Azure Labs project coming from the SQL Server organisation that has the codename "Data Explorer" (not a very imaginitive codename I'm sure you'll agree) and for which there is information available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlazurelabs/labs/dataexplorer.aspx (in case you've surfed on here a few months on from when I originally wrote this blog post you should expect that that that URI will have become a dead link).
My good buddy Chris Webb (blog | twitter) has already blogged about Data Explorer at Pass Summit 2011 - Day 1 Keynote and Self-Service ETL with Data Explorer in which he made a very telling observation:
It allows you to mash up data from various different sources then publish the result as an OData feed – very similar to Yahoo Pipes
I couldn't agree more with that assertion. I blogged about Yahoo Pipes over four years ago at Taking Yahoo Pipes for a test drive and I referred to it then as "ETL for RSS feeds"; it interested me greatly because here was a tool that enabled non-developers to pull data from multiple sources and make it available as a single data source that could be easily consumed; moreover it ran as a cloud service which has also long been an interest of mine. Granted, it only did this for RSS feeds but the premise was still really interesting to me; I believe that making data easily consumable is far more important than the tool chosen to consume it hence why I'm such a massive advocate of iCalendar for BI and why you'll rarely find me talking about the likes of Business Objects, Cognos, Qlikview, Tableau and Power View on this blog (no disrespect intended to those tools or the people that use them - they're just not what floats my boat).
Where Yahoo Pipes consumes RSS feeds and provides RSS feeds, Data Explorer consumes from loads of different places and provides OData feeds (something I've been banging on about for a while now) and if you're in the Microsoft ecosystem OData is increasingly looking like the lingua franca for platform and device independent data integration. Moreover, according to recent blog post Creating a custom RSS reader in Montego (cloud) by project lead Tim Mallalieu Data Explorer will also be able to pull data directly out of web pages and that is stepping firmly into the territory of Kapow which, again, is a tool that Chris and I have blogged about before at Kapow – ETL for HTML and Kapow Technologies. Chris referred to Kapow as:
a cross between a screenscraper and an ETL tool
and again I wouldn't disagree. Data Explorer looks like filling the missing link that I was alluding to in the final paragraphs of my June 2009 blog post Enterprise Mashups.
Are you spotting a common theme here? Data Explorer is an ETL tool and given my obvious SSIS affiliations that makes it very interesting to me. That it runs as a cloud service and will be available to non-developers only makes it more intriguing and I can't wait until Data Explorer becomes available for us to tinker with later this year. No doubt Chris will be keeping a watching brief too.
UPDATE:Some further thoughts...
It would be interesting to see what else could be done with this data once its exposed as a feed. I'll wager that in the not too distant future you'll be able to (for example) sell the output from your Data Explorer mashup on Azure Datamarket or view geocoded feeds on Bing Maps (note that Geospatial support is coming to OData in the very near future). There are lots of possibilities I'm sure and I'm looking forward to seeing what ideas others have for using and sharing this data.
I'm also wondering whether there will be an option to host Data Explorer (and hence Data Explorer mashups) inside the enterprise. Today most enterprise data is contained within the corporate firewall thus will not be accessible from a Data Explorer service provided via SQL Azure; it would be a shame if such data could not be accessed by Data Explorer and hence why I hope there will be an on-premise version available. I can think of many scenarios at my past clients where the ability to easily make data consumable over HTTP and behind the firewall would have been invaluable.
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It also supports ODBC endpoints as well as OData, as Tim mentions here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/timmall/archive/2011/10/21/using-the-montego-client-amp-excel.aspx
And what about the scripting language? There's so much to this tool... Following on from that, I could imagine it going in a SAS-like direction as well, so we could do complex calculations (scaled out in the cloud, using Hadoop or Dryad?) as well as just ETL.
Definitely interested to know more on how it could be used within the Enterprise.
Yesterday the public availability of Data Explorer, a new data mashup tool from the SQL Server team,
Earlier today I posted Data Explorer walkthrough – Parsing a Twitter list in which I explained that I
A short recap At the PASS Summit 2011 a project that existed as part of the now-defunct SQL Azure Labs


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In defiance of big banks, an ice-cream shop owner in Pittsburgh opened a bank where customers can spend their interest on buckwheat honey waffles or chocolate ice cream garnished with habanero peppers.
Ethan Clay, 31, said he opened Whalebone Intergalactic Café Bank about seven months ago inside his ice-cream shop, Oh Yeah!, after getting fed up with his treatment at the hands of a local bank. About two years ago, Clay was charged $1,600 in overdraft fees for a series of checks that overdrew $200 in his account.
Describing his bank as "community-centric," Clay says in his YouTube video that he hopes to strike a blow for consumers and end punitive bank fees.
Whalebone Intergalactic Café Bank offers customers a 5.5 percent monthly interest rate. When they deposit $100, their interest comes in the form of $5.50 worth of "exclamation dollars," which they can spend at Oh Yeah! on products like coffee and ice cream. Clay also cashes checks and makes short-term loans. He told The Wall Street Journal that he currently has $550 in deposits and has given out loans totaling $1,700, which includes his own seed money.
But state regulators are less than pleased with the Whalebone Intergalactic Café Bank, and are intent on cracking down.
"We're not OK with what he is doing," Ed Novak, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Dept. of Banking, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "We're not in the Wild West anymore." Chief among the drawbacks: Clay doesn't have a banking license, and also isn't carrying depositors' insurance.
"If a bank goes under, the depositors get their money back," Novak told The Wall Street Journal, thanks to programs like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). "If the ice-cream store goes under, who knows what happens."
To that, Clay said he won't consider applying for depositors' insurance unless he has his shareholders' consensus — and argues that he shouldn't come under regulatory scrutiny anyway, since while he calls his operation a bank it's technically a "gift card savings account," as the Journal put it. Meanwhile, NewsFeed suspects, the best insurance Clay has is making sure the freezer doesn't break down.